CORE VALUES
We Are a Christian People
As members of the Church Universal, we
join with all true believers in proclaiming the Lordship
of Jesus Christ and in embracing the historic
Trinitarian creedal statements of Christian faith. We
value our Wesleyan-Holiness heritage and believe it to
be a way of understanding the faith that is true to
Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience.
We Are a Holiness People
God, who is holy, calls us to a life
of holiness. We believe that the Holy Spirit seeks to do
in us a second work of grace, called by various terms
including "entire sanctification" and "baptism with the
Holy Spirit"-cleansing us from all sin; renewing us in
the image of God: empowering us to love God with our
whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors
as ourselves; and producing in us the character of
Christ. Holiness in the life of believers is most
clearly understood as Christlikeness.
We Are a Missional People
We are a sent people, responding to
the call of Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to
go into all the world, witnessing to the Lordship of
Christ and participating with God in the building of the
Church and the extension of His kingdom (2 Corinthians
6:1). Our mission (a) begins in worship, (b) ministers
to the world in evangelism and compassion, (c)
encourages believers toward Christian maturity through
discipleship, and (d) prepares women and men for
Christian service through Christian higher education.
ESSAYS
We Are a Christian People
We are united with all believers in
proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We believe
that in divine love, God offers to all people
forgiveness of sins and restored relationship. In being
reconciled to God, we believe that we are also to be
reconciled to one another loving each other as we have
been loved by God, forgiving each other as we have been
foigiven by God. We believe that our life together is to
exemplify the character of Christ. We stand with
Christians everywhere in affirming the historic
Trinitarian creeds and beliefs of the Christian faith
and deeply value our heritage in the Wesleyan-Holiness
tradition. We look to Scripture as the primary source of
spiritual truth confirmed by reason, tradition, and
experience.
With all the people of God we confess
and praise Jesus Christ the Lord.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Church, which, as the
Apostles' Creed tells us, is one, holy, universal, and
apostolic. In Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit,
God the Father offers forgiveness of sin and
reconciliation to all the world. Those who respond to
God's offer in faith become the people of God. Having
been forgiven and reconciled in Christ, we forgive and
are reconciled to one another. In this way, we are
Christ's Church and Body and reveal the unity of that
Body. As the one Body of Christ, we have "one Lord, one
faith, one baptism." We affirm the unity of Christ's
Church and strive in all things to preserve it
(Ephesians 4:5, 3).
Jesus Christ is the holy Lord. For
this reason, Christ's Church is not only one but also
holy. It is to be holy in its parts and in its totality
holy in its members as it is in its Head. The Church is
both holy and called to be holy. It is holy because it
is the Body of Christ, who has become for us
righteousness and holiness. It is called to become holy
by God, who chose us before the foundation of the world
that we should be holy and blameless. As Christ's one
Body, our life together as a church should embody the
holy character of Christ, who emptied himself and took
on the form of a slave. We affirm the holiness of
Christ's Church, both as a gift and as a calling.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of the
Church. For this reason, the Church is not only one and
holy but also universal, including all who affirm the
essential beliefs of the Christian faith. We affirm the
apostolic faith that has been held by all Christians,
everywhere and at all times. We embrace John Wesley's
concept of the universal spirit, by which we have
fellowship with all those who affirm the vital center of
Scripture, and we extend toleration to those who
disagree with us on matters not essential to salvation.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of the
Scriptures. For this reason, the Church is not only one,
holy, and universal but also apostolic. It is built on
the foundation of the apostles and prophets and
continually devotes itself to the apostles' teaching.
The Church especially looks to the Scriptures, which are
the Church's only norm of faith and life. The Lordship
of Jesus over the Scriptures means that we are to
understand the Scriptures through the witness of the
Holy Spirit as they testify to Jesus. To confirm and
correct our understanding of the Scriptures, we honor
and heed the ancient creeds and other voices of the
Christian tradition that faithfully explain the
Scriptures. We also allow our understanding of the
Scriptures to be guided by the voice of the Holy Spirit
speaking to us in repentance, faith, and assurance.
Finally we test our understanding of the Scriptures by
seeking the reasonableness and coherence of their
witness to Jesus Christ.
We are especially called to witness to
the holiness of Christ's Church as embraced in the
Wesleyan-Holiness tradition. We affirm the principles of
salvation by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ
our Savior. In doing so, we continue to affirm that
Christ's Church is one, universal, and apostolic. But
our special calling is to hold before the eyes of the
world and the Church the centrality of holiness and to
encourage the people of God to live in the fullness of
the Father's holy love. For this reason we affirm the
Wesleyan-Holiness understanding of the Christian faith
and seek to remain faithful to its principal teachings:
God's prevenient grace and the means of grace,
repentance, faith, the new birth, justification,
assurance, the Christian community and its disciplines,
and the perfection of love.
We Are a Holiness People
We are called by Scripture and drawn
by grace to worship God and to love Him with our whole
heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as
ourselves. To this end we commit ourselves fully and
completely to God, believing that we can be "sanctified
wholly," as a second crisis experience. We believe that
the Holy Spirit convicts, cleanses, fills and empowers
us as the grace of God transforms us day by day into a
people of love and spiritual discipline, ethical and
moral purity, and compassion and justice. It is the work
of the Holy Spirit that restores us in the image of God
and produces in us the character of Christ. Holiness in
the life of be-lievers is most clearly understood as
Christlikeness.
We believe in God the Father, the
Creator, who calls into being what does not exist. We
once were not, but God called us into being, made us for
himself, and fashioned us in His own image. We have been
commissioned to bear the image of God: "I am the LORD
your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am
holy" (Leviticus 11:44).
Our hunger to be a Holiness people is rooted in the
holi-ness of God himself. The holiness of God refers to
His Deity His utter singularity of being. There is none
like Him in majesty and glory The appropriate human
response in the presence of such a glorious being is
worship of God as God. God's holiness is expressed in
His gracious redemptive acts. Encounter with the God who
reveals and gives himself makes worship possible, and
worship becomes the primary way of knowing Him. We
worship the holy redeeming God by loving what He loves.
Our worship of the great and gracious God takes many
forms. Often it is praise and prayer with the faith
community. It also expresses itself in acts of private
devotion, thanksgiving and praise, and obedience.
Evangelistic sharing of the faith, compassion toward our
neighbor, working for justice, and moral uprightness are
all acts of worship before our God of blazing holiness.
Even the ordinary tasks of life become acts of worship
and take on a sacramental significance as worship of a
holy God becomes our way of life.
Jesus Christ revealed the one holy God
to us and modeled worshipful holy living for us. Jesus
informs our understanding of holiness through His life,
sacrifice, and teachings as found in the Gospels,
particularly the Sermon on the Mount. As a Holiness
people we seek to be like Jesus in every atti-tude and
action. By His grace God enables believers who worship
Him with their whole hearts to live Christlike lives.
This we understand to be the essence of holiness.
God has also given us the gift and
responsibility of choice. Because we were born with a
tendency to sin, we are inclined to choose our own way
rather than God's (Isaiah 53:6). Having corrupted God's
creation with our sin, we are dead in trespasses and
sins (Ephesians 2:1). If we are to live again
spiritually God, who calls into being what does not
exist, must graciously create us anew through the
redemp-tive acts of His own Son.
We believe that God uniquely entered
our world through the incarnation of His only Son, Jesus
of Nazareth, the his-torical God-man. Jesus came to
renew the image of God in us, enabling us to become holy
people. We believe that holiness in the life of the
believer is the result of both a crisis ex-perience and
a lifelong process. Following regeneration, the Spirit
of our Lord draws us by grace to the full consecration
of our lives to Him. Then, in the divine act of entire
sanctification, also called the baptism with the Holy
Spirit, He cleanses us from original sin and indwells us
with His holy presence. He perfects us in love, enables
us to live in moral uprightness, and empowers us to
serve! The Spirit of Jesus works within us to reproduce
in us His own character of holy love. He enables us to
"put on the new self, created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). To be like
God is to be like Je-sus. Having had the divine image
restored in us in God's act of entire sanctification, we
acknowledge that we have not yet arrived spiritually;
our lifelong goal is Christlikeness in every word,
thought, and deed. By continued yieldedness, obedience,
and faith, we believe that we are "being transformed in
his [Christ's] likeness with ever-increasing glory" (2
Corinthians 3:18). We participate further in this
process as we live a life of worship expressed in many
ways, including embracing the spiritual disciplines and
the fellowship and accountability of the local church.
As a Body of Believers in a specific congregation, we
endeavor to be a Christlike community, worshiping God
with our whole hearts and re-ceiving His gifts of love,
purity power, and compassion.
As a Holiness people we do not exist
in a historical and ecclesiastical vacuum. We identify
with the New Testament and the Early Church. Our
articles of faith clearly place us in the tradition of
classical Christianity We identify with the Arminian
tradition of free grace (Jesus died for all) and human
freedom--the God-given capacity of all to choose God and
salvation. We also trace our ecclesiastical heritage to
the Wesleyan Revival of the 18th century and to the
Holiness Movement of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Through the centuries the Holiness
people have had a "magnificent obsession" with Jesus. We
worship Jesus! We love Jesus! We think Jesus! We talk
Jesus! We live Jesus! This is the essence and overflow
of holiness for us. This is what characterizes Holiness
people.
We Are a Missional People
3a Our Mission of Worship
The mission of the church in the world
begins in worship. It is as we are gathered together
before God in worship-singing, hearing the public
reading of the Bible, giving our tithes and offerings,
praying, hearing the preached Word, baptizing, and
sharing the Lords Supper--that we know most clearly what
it means to be the people of God. Our belief that the
work of God in the world is accomplished primarily
through worshiping congregations leads us to understand
that our mission includes the receiving of new members
into the fellowship of the church and the organizing of
new worshiping congregations.
Worship is the highest expression of
our love for God. It is God-centered adoration honoring
the One who in grace and mercy redeems us. The primary
context for worship is the local church where God's
people gather, not in self-cen-tered experience or for
self-glorification, but in self-surrender and
self-offering. Worship is the church in loving, obedient
service to God.
Worship is the first privilege and
responsibility of God's people. It is the gathering of
the covenant community before God in proclamation and
celebrative response of who He is, what He has done, and
what He promises to do.
The local church in worship is at the
core of our identity The Church of the Nazarene is
essentially local worshiping congregations, and it is in
and through the local congregation that our mission is
fulfilled. The mission of the church finds its meaning
and orientation in worship. It is in the preaching of
the Word, the celebration of the sacraments, the public
reading of the Scripture, the singing of hymns and
choruses, corporate prayer, and the presenting of our
tithes and offerings that we know most clearly what it
means to be the people of God. It is in worship that we
understand most clearly what it means to participate
with God in the work of redemption.
It is with a spirit of hope and
optimism that we engage our God-given mission in the
world. It is more than an expression of human concern or
human effort. Our mission is a response to God's call.
It is our participation with God in the Kingdom mission
of reconciliation. It is the church's faithful witness
to and expression of the love of God in the world-in
evangelism, compassion, and justice. It is our faith in
the ability of God's grace to transform the lives of
people broken by sin and to restore them in His own
image.
3c. Our Mission of Discipleship
We are committed to being-and inviting
others to become-disciples of Jesus. With this in mind,
we are committed to providing the means (Sunday School,
Bible studies, small accountability groups, etc.)
through which believers are en-couraged to grow in their
understanding of the Christian faith and in their
relationship with each other and with God. We understand
discipleship to include submitting ourselves to obeying
God and to the disciplines of the faith. We believe we
are to help each other live the holy life through mutual
support, Christian fellowship, and loving accountability
Wesley said, "God has given us to each other to
strengthen each other's hands." Christian discipleship
is a way of life. It is the process of learning how God
would have us live in the world. As we learn to live in
obedience to the Word of God, in submission to the
disciplines of the faith, and in accountability to one
another, we begin to understand the true joy of the
disciplined life and the Christian meaning of freedom.
Discipleship is not merely human effort, submitting to
rules and regulations. It is the means through which the
Holy Spirit gradually brings us to maturity in Christ.
It is through discipleship that we become people of
Christian character. The ultimate goal of discipleship
is to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ
(2 Corinthians 3:18).
By studying and meditating on the Scriptures, Christians
discover fountains of refreshment in every thirsty
valley on their discipleship journey Invigorated by the
washing of the Word, refined by immersion in the Word,
drinking deeply the truths of the Word, the disciples
discover to their happy surprise that they are being
"transformed by the renewing of [their] mind" (Romans
12:2). The Christian way opens before them like a high
and open road. Nerved by God, they proceed on a way of
life that eclipses mere human and cul-tural values.
Refreshed by the fountain of the Word, disciples give
their life away in self-transcending service.
We affirm the life-giving value of the
classic spiritual disciplines in the training of women
and men as disciples of Christ. The disciplines of
prayer and fasting, worship, study solitude, service,
and simplicity are at the same time natural expressions
and intentional commitments in the life of the believer.
Discipleship requires mutual support and loving
accountability. On our own, few of us will develop the
spiritual disciplines that lead to Christian maturity.
We believe that we are to encourage the mutual support
provided through such means as Sunday School classes,
discipleship groups, Bible study groups, prayer
meetings, accountability groups, and Christian mentoring
as necessary to our spiritual formation and maturity.
Recognizing the role of accountability in the Wesleyan
class meetings encourages us to support its place within
the contemporary Christian congregation.
3d. Our Mission of Christian
Higher Education
We are committed to Christian
education, through which men and women are equipped for
lives of Christian service. In our seminaries, Bible
colleges, colleges, and universities, we are committed
to the pursuit of knowledge, the development of
Christian character, and the equipping of leaders to
accomplish our God-given calling of serving in the
church and in the world.
Christian higher education is a
central part of the mission of the Church of the
Nazarene. In the early years of the Church of the
Nazarene, institutions of Christian higher education
were organized for the purpose of preparing men and
women of God for leadership and Christian service in the
global spread of the Wesleyan-Holiness revival. Our
continued commitment to Christian higher education
through the years has produced a worldwide network of
seminaries, Bible schools, colleges, and universities.
Our mission of Christian higher education comes directly
out of what it means to be God's people. We are to love
God with our whole "heart, soul, and mind." We are
therefore, to be good stewards in the development of our
minds, our academic resources, and in the application of
our knowledge. In this light, we are committed to the
open and honest pursuit of knowledge and truth coupled
with the integrity of our Christian faith. Christian
higher education is an essential arena for the
development of the stewardship of our minds. It is
intended to be an arena characterized by the discussion
and discovery of truth and knowledge about God and all
of God's creation.
In Christian higher education faith is
not compartmentalized, but wonderfully integrated with
knowledge as faith and learning are developed together.
The whole person is cultivated with every area of
thought and life understood in relationship to the
desire and design of God. Christian char-acter and the
equipping of Christian leaders for service in the church
and the world are forged in the context of learning
about God, humanity and the world. This commitment of
Christian higher education to the formation of the whole
person is critical for the development of Christian men
and women for missional leadership in the church and the
world.
As a redeemed people called to
Christlikeness and sent as agents of God's love in the
world, we participate with God in the work of redeeming
humanity Christian higher education contributes
significantly to our being such a missional
people-offering the broad range of knowledge-and it is
necessary for effective service to God in our various
vocations. Our faithful participation in God's
redemptive work requires that we raise up men and women
of God who can take their place as Christian servant
leaders in the church and in the world.
The world in which we are called to
serve is becoming more closely connected and more
profoundly complicated each day. As God's work of
redemption advances in present and future generations,
our faithful witness to the Lordship of Christ and
effective participation with God in the building of the
church will continue to require a vital commitment to
Christian higher education.
CONCLUSION
At the turn of the 20th century, the
Church of the Nazarene was born! P.F. Bresee and others
were deeply convicted that God had raised them up for
the express purpose of proclaiming to the church and
world the gospel of Jesus Christ in the
Wesleyan-Holiness tradition. There are unmistakable
marks of providence on this denomination. From a
fledgling movement, the Church of the Nazarene now
exceeds 1.3 million in membership and is ministering in
135 countries of the world.
At the turn of the 21st century, the future of this
denomination has never been brighter! Many believe that
we were raised up, not for the 20th century, but for the
21st century. We are positioned to make a major
contribution to our post-modern world. This affirmation
is grounded in our Wesleyan-Holiness heritage with its
radical optimism of grace. We believe that human nature,
and ultimately society can be radically and permanently
changed by the grace of God. We have an irrepressible
confidence in this message of hope, which flows from the
heart of our holy God.
P.F. Bresee was fond of saying, 'The
sun never sets in the morning." It is still morning in
the Church of the Nazarene, and the sun never sets on
our denomination around the world. We are radically
optimistic about impacting our 21st-century world with
the Holiness message! With clarity of vision, total
commitment, and firm faith, we view this new century as
our day of greatest opportunity for making Christlike
disciples of all nations.
All Scripture quotations are taken
from the Holy Bible, New International Versions (NIV).
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible
Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing
House. All rights reserved.
